A wide variety of devices to protect against or deliver sound to the ear, such as medical equipment, headsets, hearing aids, cellular telephones, or the like, include in-ear devices such as earphones, earplugs, earbuds, ear tips, ear tubes, or the like, which are not configured to the auricle of an ear of a wearer.
Because conventional in-ear devices are not configured to the auricle of the ear of the wearer, the in-ear device may not stay in fixed engagement with the auricle of the ear, the in-ear device may not align with the external ear canal, or the in-ear device may be uncomfortable for the wearer to insert into or retain in the auricle of the ear.
To provide an earpiece fitted to an auricle of an ear of an individual wearer, a moldable earpiece may be utilized to retain or removably retain an in-ear device. Moldable earpiece materials may be made of viscoelastic polymers which are susceptible to being deformed over time due to stresses placed upon the viscoelastic polymer such as shear and temperature.
The instant invention provides apparatuses and methods of making and using a moldable earpiece heating case to heat moldable earpieces to achieve a moldable condition in which the moldable earpiece can be reconfigured to the configuration of the auricle of an ear of each individual wearer and upon cooling provides an earpiece having a fixed configuration in greater conformity to the auricle of the ear of the wearer.